{"id":7461,"date":"2024-12-19T11:54:44","date_gmt":"2024-12-19T11:54:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gracamacheltrust.org\/?p=7461"},"modified":"2026-01-23T02:16:05","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T00:16:05","slug":"office-of-the-founder-reflection-and-lessons-from-2024-by-leila-akahloun","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.gbstudio.co.za\/gmt\/featured\/office-of-the-founder-reflection-and-lessons-from-2024-by-leila-akahloun\/","title":{"rendered":"Office of the Founder reflection and lessons from 2024 by Leila Akahloun"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Photo: From left to right: Leila Akahloun (Mrs Machel\u2019s Senior Advisor) Theo Sowa GMT\u2019s Interim CEO, HE Gra\u00e7a Machel (GMT\u2019s Founder) and Vimla Naidoo (Mrs Machel\u2019s Personal Assistant.<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

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Reflection \u2013 Move with courage, humility and a learning mindset<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

This year the Office of the Founder was tasked by the Board to take on a massive and important mandate: to lead legacy preservation efforts for Mrs Machel. This did not only represent an added portfolio of work (with the same number of staff), but a hefty mandate with significant implications for Mrs Machel and GMT (as well as a broader universe of communities we hope to impact and inspire with this body of work).\u00a0 A key lesson from this daunting task has been to move with courage, humility and a learning mindset when faced with new areas of responsibility and challenging tasks.<\/p>\n

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Photo: Legacy planning with Mrs Machel – with joy and laughter amid the hard work \u2013 with Wokedje Homawoo \u2013 Programme Officer in the Office of the Founder.<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

True to GMT\u2019s approach, we are working collaboratively and surrounding ourselves with experts who are knowledgeable and gracious in sharing their wisdom. We have learned to become even more flexible in our work planning open to feedback and constructive criticism, and novel ways of doing something. When entering unfamiliar and unchartered territory, and when feeling unprepared or underequipped to take on a new challenge, remember to lean on the strength of the collectives and the values of GMT \u2013 they are your safety net!<\/p>\n

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Lesson \u2013 moral courage at all times <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

This year lessons in moral courage have been bountiful. The Office of the Founder\u2019s\u00a0global advocacy work is multifaceted\u2014 amongst many causes, we work to advance issues of climate justice, conflict resolution, global health equity, access to education, etc, but perhaps nothing has impacted me professionally and personally as strongly as has the polarizing conflict and genocide in Gaza. \u00a0I\u2019ve learned a lot from Mrs Machel this year witnessing her stand up and speak out on issues of justice and peace and truly amplifying voices of the world\u2019s marginalized and ignored. See Mrs Machel\u2019s recent statement on the issue here.<\/a><\/p>\n

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Photo: Mrs Machel at the Vatican strategising with Nobel Peace Prize Laurates and human rights activists, and calling for novel peacebuilding and conflict resolution approaches in Gaza, Sudan and DRC.<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

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Photo: Leila and Mrs Machel having a moment at the Vatican.<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

I\u2019ve learned to become much more\u00a0unapologetic in speaking my truths and\u00a0taking a stand for my convictions and values\u2014 however unpopular or controversial they might be. GMT, the organisations and partners the OOF is closely affiliated with, encourage me to use my life to benefit communities and issues I care about. \u00a0\u201cOne life to live, notice you get no sequel.\u201d – Jay Z<\/em><\/p>\n

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Celebration<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The emphasis on the wellbeing of the collective is something I appreciate and celebrate within an afro-centric organization.\u00a0The recent WCW Summit showcased to me what I know to be true: solidarity is our superpower.\u00a0Our strength has been our collective action. I witness this daily in Mrs Machel\u2019s leadership of organizations that she is affiliated with \u2014 when tackling issues of global importance, she introduces the African notion of Ubuntu to the discussions and brings the values of GMT to global spaces<\/span><\/p>\n

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Mrs Machel giving the closing address at the WCW Summit, Johannesburg, South Africa, November 2024.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  Reflection \u2013 Move with courage, humility and a learning […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7462,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_rtcl_gb_attr":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[742,4,81,113],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7461","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blogs","category-featured","category-highlight","category-nutrition-highlight"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.gbstudio.co.za\/gmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7461","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.gbstudio.co.za\/gmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.gbstudio.co.za\/gmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.gbstudio.co.za\/gmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.gbstudio.co.za\/gmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7461"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.gbstudio.co.za\/gmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7461\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.gbstudio.co.za\/gmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7462"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.gbstudio.co.za\/gmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.gbstudio.co.za\/gmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.gbstudio.co.za\/gmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}